Feature: Preview: Star Wars Battlefront 2 gives the series a new hope

If the Assault on Theed battle is anything to go by, Star Wars Battlefront II is on track to fix the flaws that stopped 2015’s Battlefront from being a properly great game. I played through Assault on Theed twice, defending the palace on Naboo from the army of droids looking to reclaim the throne room, and the level is phenomenally well paced.

In Assault on Theed a giant troop carrier slowly rolls towards the palace: someone has strapped guns to an angry tortoise, and it’s coming for you, motherfuckers. The clone troopers must defend the palace, gradually falling back, while the droid army pushes forwards and protects the troop ship.

The progress of the battle is so well balanced that each playthrough consistently has two or three tense moments where it could go either way. The troop carrier can only be stopped by enough cumulative hits from ion disruptors, but they’re scattered across the map and you’re rendered effectively defenseless while you lock on and fire. In the early stages of the battle it’s easy to get in a few hits, but the troop ship doesn’t stop until you’ve destroyed it entirely. Its progress is terrible and inexorable. The droid army will arrowhead its way in, pushing its respawn line forwards, and everything becomes a more desperate fight. I aimed my disruptor for the final hit, but at the last moment the palace was breached. ‘Too late, too late’ will be the cry!